ProverbWisdomEnglish origin1605

A miss is as good as a mile

Meaning: Whether you fail narrowly or dramatically, the result remains identical—you've still missed the mark entirely.

Origin: William Camden's Remaines (1605) records the earlier form, "An inch in a miss is as good as an ell" — an ell being an old measure of cloth of about 45 inches. When the ell fell out of use, the similar-sounding mile took its place. A near miss is still a miss, whatever the distance.

Explore another collection: False Friends

Words that look familiar in another language but mean something else entirely.

  • Mening Actually means 'opinion'. Mijn mening = my opinion. The meaning of a word is its betekeni…
  • Puxe Actually means 'pull' — the imperative of puxar. The door sign telling you to push says e…
  • Esquisito Actually means 'strange', 'weird' or 'odd'. For exquisite, say requintado.

Browse all false friends →

Keep exploring

Explore all proverbs →